Rabbi's Section
Rabbi Rose
Rabbi David Rose was born in New Zealand where he obtained a BA in Political Science and History. He was the National Head of Bnei Akiva in New Zealand. He obtained Rabbinical Ordination from the Chief Rabbinate of Israel, where he lived for 10 years, before moving to Sweden where he helped set up an educational project. He served as the Rabbi of Richmond, Surrey for 4 years, and obtained an MA in Jewish studies from UCL. He was appointed to his current post in Edinburgh in May 2003. Rabbi Rose represents the Jewish community in several civic forums, is a member of the Conference of Scottish Religious leaders and is Honorary President of the Edinburgh Interfaith Association.
As well as teaching at the Cheder, he also conducts Adult Education classes, either at his home or in the Beit Hamedresh (on zoom during the pandemic).
Each week he produces his own Parsha sheet for the weekly sedra, titled ‘Forth Light’. This usually includes a challenging “Parsha Puzzle”.
If you have any questions for the Rabbi, then please contact the Rabbi.
Green Dvar
The month of Av is the saddest month of the year containing the nine days and Tisha B’Av, commemorating the destruction of the Temple and Jewish sovereignty and our exile from the Land. This, paradoxically, takes place at the height of summer and the harvest when we enjoy the fruits of the Land. The Torah connects the punishment of exile from the Land to the disregarding of the Torah’s instructions for living in the Land. Among many other transgressions it specifically mentions disregard of the regulations concerning the Sabbatical year as a direct cause of being expelled from the Land. When you are in exile and the Land is desolate, the Torah states, then it will receive the rest you didn’t give it when you dwelt in it. The Torah is warning us that if we don’t look after the Land it will rebel against us and expel us. This prophecy indeed came to pass and the seventy years of the Babylonian exile were seen as recompense for the seventy Sabbatical years the Jews didn’t keep while they dwelt in the Land.
While this warning in the Torah specifically refers to the Land of Israel, it can serve as a warning for everyone. If we do not treat the Earth properly and don’t give it the care and rejuvenation it needs, the Earth will rebel against us and through fire and flood remove us, so it can achieve the respite it requires. Thus this period of the year, when we enjoy the natural world in its glory while mourning the disasters of Jewish history, caused by our abuse of our Land, should serve to awaken us to the dangers of environmental degradation not only to the earth but to our very existence upon it.